Synced Content iPhone Storage - iOS 17 Update

On occasion, I’ll sync a downloaded movie or TV show (in MP4 format) from my iMac to my iPad to watch away from my home. I did that with two movies and one TV show episode after updating to iOS 17 and see that the 973.1MB they represent is exactly the same as the “Synced Content“ category. I expect that once I delete them, that category will go to zero MB.

I don’t know how this affects the overall storage calculation, but I hope this helps in understanding what contributes to the category.

It seems that your new iPhone has more free space than old one. "Synced Content" seems to be just a display bug showing the same count in two different categories but not occupying any additional space. On my iPhone free memory continued the same, before and after the upgrade to iOS 17.

its not just a display bug. when i try to sync with itunes on a pc, i get a message not enough memory available but there should be. synced content is a duplication of music files

music = 116GB

synced content = 115GB

I only sync music to itunes

Same here. I had 25 GB music plus 25 GB of new synced content. But I only sync messages, email, and contacts. There is no way I have 25 GB of data in those three apps. When I delete 1 GB of music, the synced content also goes down by 1 GB, and I get 2 GB of storage back. I know Apple wants everyone to buy overpriced storage from them but this is criminal. Sorta like increasing photo resolution for the sole purpose of requiring cloud storage.

This is so bad. I have over 20gb in the synched folder and yes it is the same as my music. Just bought an additional 200gb of iCloud hoping to shift it there but can’t. Shocking. What can we do? Don’t want to lose my music library (it is not Apple so can’t save in iCloud)

In my case, "synced content" shows up on "iphone storage" as approximately a duplicate of synced music. In fact, "synced content" even showed up as a duplicate of music that was added manually (not synced) in iTunes. However, it appears that synced content does not count against available storage space: the iphone storage space according to iTunes does not display "synced content" and that available iphone space according to iTunes is what I expected. The available space according to iTunes (the expected space) matches the available space according to "iphone storage" on the iphone (total storage - current content). Maybe synced content is just informational?

I have a similar issue. In settings, analysis and improvements, I do not share information with Apple, but all files created by the iPhone, ips, remain in the phone and are not copied during synchronization. Apple doesn’t give me an answer.

I tried a test. Using a Mini 6 with no music (or synced data storage with 17.0.2), I copied over 2GB of music using iMazing, not iTunes, and synced data now shows up, about equal to the downloaded music size. I then deleted the music on the iPad and it cleared the synced data.

It does appear that there are many of us all experiencing the same problem. It is the music that is the problem. Apple have not stepped up. No answers, no idea?? Having updated to 17.02 I had expected and hoped it would fix it, but no. Had to offload almost all apps to be able to get the update.

is this another Apple ply for everyone to buy the iPhone 15?

Hoping Apple will acknowledge and help

soon.

As I stated above, I do not believe that Synced Content is actually using additional storage. It is only showing how much music (for the most part) you have synced from a computer to the phone (whether by iTunes or another program). In my test I deleted my synced music. The synced content category disappeared. It synced content was actually using storage I should have recovered the GB used by music and the GB used by synced content. However, I only gained the GB used by music. Thus, Synced Content is not actually using storage.

It's a dumb way to showing us we have synced content, but it not taking up space.

So if your phone is telling you that you do not have enough storage to install iOS 17.X.X, it likely because of something else taking up storage, not Synced Content.

This may be the case for you, but many of us are seeing synced content actually taking up dozens of extra gigabytes. Apple has escalated my case to engineering and claim that they are absolutely going to have a fix soon.

Mine was escalated also. Apple said its normal behavior and was not taking up extra storage. So I ran a test. For me, I had 66GB of synced music AND 67GB of Synced Content showing in storage. When I unsynced the music, I gained 66GB of storage back. The Synced Content category disappeared. But I did not recover 122GB of cleared storage, which I should have recovered if Synced Content was actually taking up space. Since I only recovered 66GB, it shows that Synced Content is not actually taking up space. It's just a category. See my screen shots from above.

As I said, it was a dumb and confusing way for Apple to show this Synced Content. Not sure why they needed to show it at all. But if you don't believe me, try it for yourself. Unsync your music and see what happens.

I understand. But if you delete the 30GB of music, the synced content category should go away and you will only recover 30GB for the music. You will not recover 60GB for the music (30GB) + Synced Content (30GB). Synced Content is just reporting how much data (i.e. music) you have synced. It shows it in the storage bar (which unfortunately is very misleading). But it's not taking additional storage.

Look, I didn't come here to argue. I installed iOS 17, and the next morning I woke up to a warning that my iPhone was full and Id need to make space somehow. I had somewhere between 30-50gb free space before updating and then I didn't.

So what you are saying is wrong for my situation, and for many more reporting all over the internet. Stop arguing.

I was just pointing out what Apple engineering told me. I am not trying to argue or anything. It took me a few sessions with tech support to understand what Apple was telling me about Synced Content. So if I have offended you or anyone else, my sincerest apology. I hope you all get it sorted out with Apple.